Growing up in a military background is usually very different to living a civilian life, lots of moving around, lots of not seeing family and lots of forever goodbyes.
I think anyone who has experienced a military life will have a love-hate relationship with it. Until I moved back to the UK and entered civilian life, I didn’t realise how different our lives were; especially after speaking to other friends who have experienced the same life as me.
There are so many great things about the life we have lived, and there is always a story to tell. However, not many people talk about the heartache involved.
Like, having to leave all the great people you meet, and struggling to fit into friend groups when you move back into civi life. Trying to squeeze into friendship groups which formed the same year Busted split up is quite difficult when you’re a shy 15-year-old, feeling like you’re forcing yourself into people’s lives. Or the thought that your childhood friends have moved on, someone you once called best friends having forgotten about you, even though you still think about Sarah from year 5 from time to time.
The little things that still make you smile like remembering silly memories like making up songs in the playground or getting kicked out of a class for laughing too much, but it hurts to think of the people you remember so fondly not remembering it like you do.
There are upsides and downsides to having friends spread across the world, the downsides being that it’s nearly impossible to see them (and your bank statement when you eventually do), but the upsides are all the amazing places you get to see that you wouldn’t normally be able to.
The hardest part of moving away from places you called home is still thinking about the best place you ever lived and still struggling to move on from it, even though you’ve lived away for 10 years now (TEN YEARS?!).
Memories are something to be cherished, yet I’m sure we’ve all cried at the thought of how happy we used to be with our closest friends in a foreign country with not much to do but to sit around with each other, and underage drinking in a park took up a big part of our youth (well, mine anyway). But somehow, in a different country, doing these things isn’t the same; there’s never enough to do and not enough people to do these things with (plus buying alcohol at 15 is much harder in the UK).
Now although, I never knew the experience of having to move out of a house I’ve lived in for over 20 years or moving away from a friend I’ve been close to since I was three, I wouldn’t change anything. I’ve got friends everywhere, I’ve experienced things that not many people have and I definitely wouldn’t have been the person I am today without this.
I’ve included as many photos as I could of people I’ve met through my life, all of these people are important to me, whether I met them 10 years ago or even 1 year ago. They will always be part of my life and hold a piece of my heart.
